(RSF/IFEX) – Thaw Thaw Myo Han, a telecommunications student at Rangoon’s University of Technology and writer and contributor to the magazines “Sa-be-byu”, “Han-thit” and “Atwe-amyin”, was arrested by the military secret police on 17 August 2002, along with two other students. The military secret police released him and 19 other students on 23 August. He […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Thaw Thaw Myo Han, a telecommunications student at Rangoon’s University of Technology and writer and contributor to the magazines “Sa-be-byu”, “Han-thit” and “Atwe-amyin”, was arrested by the military secret police on 17 August 2002, along with two other students.
The military secret police released him and 19 other students on 23 August. He told Radio Free Asia that they had been arrested and interrogated in connection with “illegal publications”, but had not been mistreated.
“The Burmese junta has shown unprecedented signs of opening-up in recent months, with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and numerous other dissidents. These fresh arrests are the most unfortunate and most blatant refutation of this opening. They raise the spectre of a new wave of repression against opposition activists, in particular journalists, who attempt to inform the population about the activities of opposition movements and the situation in the country,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard and Burma Media Association President U Thaung in their letter to the Burmese interior minister, Lieutenant-General Tin Hlaing. The two organisations called for the regime to halt arbitrary arrests immediately.
Military intelligence service agents arrested Thaw Thaw Myo Han at his Rangoon home during the night of 17 August. When questioned about the reasons for the arrest, the authorities refused to make any statement. The student, who was writing articles in support of democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi, was previously taken into police custody in July, after he published the “University Literary Journal”, under the auspices of the University Students’ Literary Association, without authorisation. The day of his arrest, a final-year law student, Thet Naung Soe, distributed a statement in a Rangoon street calling on the Burmese people to “make a clear choice between living in fear or living in freedom.” According to “Irrawaddy” news magazine, Thaw Thaw Myo Han was arrested because the military authorities suspected him of being involved in a plan to organise a pro-democracy demonstration.
At least 21 students have been arrested since 17 August and dozens more have gone underground.
